Why Deep Purple Named Their Tour ‘The Long Goodbye’

Ian Gillan said Deep Purple named their current tour “The Long Goodbye” because they wanted to give themselves the chance to put off the decision about whether to retire.

He said he now believes they’d “be going on” after some time off, with the possibility of new music to come. His comments came after guitarist Steve Morse said that "for me personally, it’s a farewell tour.”

In a new interview with KaaosTV, Gillan explained that "a couple of years ago, everyone in the band was unwell, we all had health problems, which have been well documented, and I think somebody – and I can't remember who said it; probably somebody from the office – said, ‘Do you guys wanna call it a day? Because you all have got health problems here.’ … Getting a decision from Deep Purple is always very tricky. So I guess there were a few nods and 'hmmmm,' 'well,' 'yeah,' 'maybe,' 'I don't know … ’ So we [said], 'Let's call it 'The Long Goodbye,'' and that way, we can make our decision later.”

You can watch the interview below.

“The fact is that everyone's feeling great now, and we've all got over those health problems and everyone's in good shape," he continued. "So I think we're gonna be looking at writing some more material next year and maybe even possibly another album; I don't know.”

Gillan described his upcoming touring schedule as “pretty intense,” because it involves both band and solo shows. “So I think we shall be going on, but we'll take a breather, I think, around March or April next year," he noted. "[I'll] go put my feet up somewhere for a couple of months.”

Morse had predicted his colleagues would keep making music, even if Deep Purple had finished. GIllan echoed those sentiments. “Do you stop breathing? Do you stop eating? Do you stop music? Is it something that there is suddenly no more of?" he asked. "It's not possible. We're musicians, we're writers, and everything we do. … And if you want to call yourself an artist, it's incumbent upon you to be expressive, and you can't just stop being expressive.”

Gillan also confirmed he had recorded an album with his first-ever band, the Javelins, and it was set to be released in August. Deep Purple tour North America with Judas Priest starting in August.